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A silver coin of Elagabalus with a reverse showing him as a Syrian priest. Coin Type: Silver denarius of Elagabalus, 218-222 CE
Mint and Date: Rome, 221 CE
Size and Weight: 19mm x 20mm, 3.00 g
Obverse: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG
Laureate, draped, horned bust right, slight sideboard but no moustache or beard, seen from in front.
Reverse: P M TR P IIII COS III P P
Elagabalus, laureate, draped to feet, with large knot in girdle at waist (Syrian priestly robes), standing facing, head left, sacrificing out of a patera in right hand over a garlanded and lighted altar, left, and holding a club, sloped slightly up to the right, at left shoulder, in left hand.
Field marks: Star in high left field, remains of erased star in right field.
Provenance: cameleoncoins (eBay), March 2011.
Ref: RCV (2002) 7536 var; RIC IV 46 var; BMCRE V p.569, 257 var (no beard).
BW Ref: 057 053 168
Click on the picture for a larger scale view of the coin
Note: BMCRE V p.569, 257 is illustrated at plate 90, no.13, and shows a fully-bearded Elagabalus on the obverse and the same erased star on the reverse. As the types without the erasure - which must be the final version of this type - normally show the full beard, this coin, which shows the emperor clean-shaven as in earler types, must be one of the earliest of the type to be struck; perhaps even before this similar coin on which Elagabalus has a moustache and sideboards, but no chin beard: Scarce denarius of Elagabalus.
The content of this page was last updated on 5 April 2011